Find maple open houses today in Vermont

Bridget Jones, winery manager at Boyden Farm in Cambridge, pours a glass of award-winning Gold Leaf dessert wine made from Northern Spy apples and estate maple syrup. Gold Leaf will be one of several items available for tasting at this weekend's Maple Sugar Festival at Boyden Farm.(Photo11: ADAM WHITE/For the Free Press)

Fred Boyden wasn't exactly up to the task when he got his start in the maple sugaring business at age 7.

"I couldn't even lift the bucket off the tree," he said. "My aunt had to do it for me."

Sixty-five years later, sepia-toned photographs of young Fred unloading sap and firewood from behind a hitched-up pony hang in the winery building at Boyden Farm in Cambridge. The patriarch of the Boyden Family and multiple generations of his offspring will help welcome guests to a maple sugar festival scheduled for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. this Saturday and Sunday.

The festival is part of Maple Open House Weekend, an annual Vermont celebration of the longstanding tradition of sugaring in the Green Mountain State.

Boyden said they've always taken part in the weekend. "I don't think we've missed a year since they started it," Boyden said.

The maple sugar festival — held simultaneously in the farm's sugarhouse and adjacent winery — will comprise a demonstration on syrup production, traditional sugar-on-snow and a special food and spirits tasting that includes yeast donuts with maple butter topping, maple candy and wines and liqueurs infused with maple flavor.

"We've traditionally had activities over Open House Weekend, and we've slowly grown it into more of a festival," said Bridget Jones, manager of Boyden Valley Winery. "It's very family friendly; there will be plenty for kids to do, as well as adults."

The tasting menu at Boyden Valley Winery features several maple-infused wines and liqueurs. Vermont Maple Reserve wine is made from Northern Spy Apples and the farm's own maple syrup, while gold-medal-winning Gold Leaf dessert wine takes those same ingredients and barrel-ages them to develop complex layers of oak and vanilla. Vermont Ice Maple Creme liqueur, another award-winner, is concocted from apple brandy, estate maple syrup and cream, resulting in a sweet sipper that also goes well in coffee or cocktails.

Guests can pay $10 and choose seven samples from the winery's list of more than 20 wines, ciders and liqueurs, then keep their tasting glass as a souvenir. Other treats on hand will include Cabot cheeses and maple cupcakes from My Little Cupcake in Burlington and Essex, and maple sugar candy from Brown Family Farm in Brattleboro.

The sugaring operation at Boyden Farm has evolved significantly over the years, to a current setup that incorporates reverse-osmosis for concentrating sap and one of the largest wood-fired evaporators in the business. The size of the sugarbush itself has more than doubled.

Maple sugar candy from Brown Family Farm in Brattleboro is seen on display at Boyden Valley Winery in Cambridge.(Photo11: ADAM WHITE/For the Free Press)

"We used to have about 4,000 taps," Boyden said. "Now, it's about 9,500."

The current system is capable of producing 30 gallons of syrup per minute. Boyden said the farm — which cranked out 2,800 total gallons last year — stands at the epicenter of the industry.

"There is probably more syrup made within a 25-mile radius of here than anywhere else in the country," said Boyden, citing sizable operations in Fletcher, Fairfield and other surrounding towns.

Jones said Mother Nature and the fluctuating temperatures haven't exactly cooperated with the sugaring business so far this year, but the Boydens planned ahead for Open House Weekend.

Fred Boyden, 72, the patriarch of Boyden Farm in Cambridge, demonstrates the use of a wood-fired evaporator to boil down maple sap into syrup. The farm uses reverse-osmosis to concentrate the sap to roughly 10 percent prior to boiling, and can generate 30 gallons of syrup per hour at the peak of operations.(Photo11: ADAM WHITE/For the Free Press)

"This year has definitely been a little different; we've only sugared a couple times since the beginning of the season," Jones said. "But we've saved up enough sap that we'll definitely be boiling this weekend."

The folks at Boyden are hoping the uneven start to consistent sugaring weather will equate to a later, but longer, season for syrup-making.

"Ask me how it's going on May 1," Boyden said. "That's what any sugar man will tell you."

Maple Open House Weekend is a long-running tradition in Vermont, with more than 80 sugarhouses across the state scheduled to take part in this year's event.

Each sugarhouse celebrates the weekend differently, providing enough unique experiences that guests often travel from one location to the next throughout the weekend. Activities range from demonstrations and tastings to pancake breakfasts, bake sales and, of course, sugar-on-snow.

A sepia-toned photograph of young Fred Boyden maple sugaring as a boy hangs in the tasting room at Boyden Valley Winery in Cambridge. Boyden, now 72, is the patriarch of the third-generation family farm that produces maple syrup, wine and spirits, beef and other products.(Photo11: ADAM WHITE/For the Free Press)